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Two more who traveled with Blinken test positive for COVID-19

POOL VIA AP
                                Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at Subang Airport, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Dec. 14, 2021.

POOL VIA AP

Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at Subang Airport, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Dec. 14, 2021.

Two U.S. Air Force aircrew members supporting Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s international travel last week tested positive for the coronavirus, the Air Force confirmed Saturday.

Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia on Wednesday after a journalist traveling in his delegation tested positive. Both aircrew members who tested positive were fully vaccinated, and neither had come into close contact with the secretary of state or senior staff, according to Ann Stefanek, a spokesperson for the department.

“One aircrew member is asymptomatic, while the other is experiencing mild symptoms,” Stefanek said.

A State Department spokesperson said this past week that Blinken had tested negative at every stop on diplomatic visits to Britain, Indonesia and Malaysia. He ended up canceling meetings scheduled for Thursday with senior officials in Bangkok, the Thai capital, and returned to the United States.


This article originally appeared in The New York Times.


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